The blog has been recently updated after one my friends Mr.Anand Raman contribute few pictures he took while he had a Nilgiri trip. The Phtos are very invaluable and would help you to understand the poem better. Incidentally wrote this blog lat year on Pongal and updating it on a Pongal day year later.

Happy Pongal to all the readers. I was so guilty of not writing for so long that I have decided to write on this day special to Tamilians all around the world. Few months ago I came across this poem in a book ‘Sips from the Sangam cup’. This song really shows the wisdom of the Tamil people 2000 years ago. This poem answers on basic doubt most youngsters have these days. So without giving much more buildup like Tamil action heroes I will proceed to the poem.

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115. குறிஞ்சி

பெரு நன்று ஆற்றின், பேணாரும் உளரே?

ஒரு நன்று உடையள் ஆயினும், புரி மாண்டு,

புலவி தீர அளிமதி-இலை கவர்பு,

ஆடு அமை ஒழுகிய தண் நறுஞ் சாரல்,

மென்நடை மரையா துஞ்சும்

நன் மலை நாட!-நின் அலது இலளே.

உடன்போக்கு ஒருப்படுத்து மீளும் தோழி தலைமகற்குக் கூறியது. – கபிலர்

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115. kuRijci

peru n’anRu ARRin, pENArum uLarE?

oru n’anRu uTaiyaL Ayinum, puri mANTu,

pulavi tIra aLimati-ilai kavarpu,

ATu amai ozukiya taN n’aRuj cAral,

menn’aTai maraiyA tujcum

n’an malai n’ATa!-n’in alatu ilaLE.

uTanpOkku oruppaTuttu mILum tOzi talaimakaRkuk kURiyatu. – kapilar

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Kurunthokai 115 When a person does a great good,
would there be any one who wouldn’t praise it?
Though she has little goodness ,
let your desire for her attain greatness,
put an end to your love quarrel
and protect her esteem.
You are the resident of the mountain,
where wild cows with its slow steps
eat leaves from other trees
and sleep in the slopes of the mountain
under the cool excellent shade
spread out by the swaying mature bamboos.
She doesn’t have anyone other than you!

What her friend said to the Hero after urging him to elope with her in time. Poet: Kapilar
Translated by me.

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Situation:

Thalivan and Thalaivi have met , fallen in love and had natural sexual union . The people from girls side doubt girls action, so they keep her guarded. Thalaivan and Thalaivi can no more bare the feeling of being separated , hence the Panki(Thalaivi’s friend ) arranges their elopement and utters the following advice to the Thalaivan before he leaves with the Thalaivi.

Meaning :

The outer layer:

Panki tells Thalaivan that the girl is young and has only few good habits with her, so it was the duty of him to take care of her by always loving her and stop having any fights and sulking with her. She reminds him that Thalaivi now has no one to support her except Thalaivan as she is running away from her family and she no more has a family of her own.

Imagery:

Thalaivan come from a hill country where

மரையா marai-y-ā

Wild cow. See கவயம்¹. மரையா மரல்கவர (கலித். 6).

கவயம்¹ kavayam

, n. < gavaya. Bison, wild cow, Bos gaurus; காட்டுப்பசு. (திவா.)

Wild cows steal leaves from the trees and eat them . When they get tired they sleep in the mountain slope under the shadow of the well-grown bamboo trees.

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Reading this line would make readers wonder what is the connection between a wild cow sleeping under bamboo trees and hero eloping with heroine ? here is the answer:

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The wild cows love to eat leaves from the bamboo trees when the tree was tender and young.

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The wild cows graze the trees and shrubs in their reach. When the bamboo tree is tender its leaves are in level where the cows can reach and eat them.

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But as the bamboo trees became mature and grew big in size, it had no leaves which are within the reach of the wild cows. Hence the wild cows eat leaves from other trees but since the bamboo trees was once provider of the food they loved the most, the cows out of gratitude would go and sleep under the shade of the bamboo trees.

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Similarly the Thalaivi now young and in prime of her youth would have the beauty and can offer sexual pleasure that the Thalaivan needs like the bamboo offering the leaves to the cows. But as age increases she would lose her physical beauty and vitality of her youth. At that time Thalaivan shouldn’t desert her , instead like the cows which sit under shade of the bamboo tree out of gratitude and indebtedness, Thalivan should think of the sacrifices and offerings the Thalaivi has given to Thalaivan so that he can attain the pleasure he desired in his youth. Thalaivi has sacrified her whole family just to be with Thalaivan . Thalaivan should remember this and stop all love quarrels with Thalaivi and keep her happy by always loving her. The poet has employed this line “When a person does a great good,would there be any one who wouldn’t praise it?” to say that when she is young and beautiful you will treat her very nicely, but it takes a real man to show the same love when she loses her physical beauty.

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Word play:

There is actually two opinions on this imagery. U.V.Swaminathan Iyer gives the explanation I have given above, but Shanmugam Pillay and David Ludden contend that the leaves are of Bamboo leaves and not from other trees.

So if we go by Shanmugam Pillay and David Ludden would the meaning of the poem change? actually not!

The meaning now would be the wild cows stole the leaves from bamboo and settled below the bamboo tree in its shadow.

Now refer to meaning 6,7 of the word கவர்¹-தல். The word means steal and also means enjoy experience – to have sexual connection. Now this way it means Thalaivan has had sexual union with Thalaivi and hence he should always be under her shade and not stray away as she gets old.

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Either way the philosophy of love marriage is :

Beauty and sexual pleasure which satisfies your physical needs only last for while but for the rest of your life you have be grateful to your wife and keep her happy by showing her unconditional love for what she has given you.

Hence you can infer all love starts with attraction and physical beauty, but it should move past the lust and remain life long as pure affection!

I usually watch Tamil speech in Tv and got interest .Now your work impresses me much. can you suggest me any tamil book to start with please? Truth is I’m very bad at tamil(please keep this in mind while suggesting me the book).Can you give tamil meaning for this poem ?

Excellent work. I feel bad it took me this long to discover your blog (not that I was looking before). Suddenly, something sparked the interest for Sangam Tamil, and I started looking online. Discovered your blog. Great One.

Just a request. For this Poem, would it be possible to give us word by word translation?